Taiwanese Tea Ceremony
From the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_tea_culture Taiwanese tea culture, include tea arts, tea ceremony, and a very social way of enjoying tea. While the most common teas are oolongs especially Taiwanese oolongs such as Iron Goddess and Alpine Oolong; Puers, black teas and green teas are also popular. Many of the classical arts can be seen in the tea culture, examples: calligraphy, flower arts, incense arts, and such. In Taiwan most people drink tea, and tea is not only a drink, but also a part of the culture. The tea culture of Taiwan can be traced back to the root from Chinese tea culture. Many people visit one of the numerous traditional teahouses or "tea-arts" shops, located all over Taiwan. History While most of Taiwanese are from Chinese immigrants around 400 years ago, the island's tea arts have been influenced by Japanese culture as well as western culture. Gongfu tea ceremony informally referred to as laoren cha, or "old man tea", originated in China and has flourished in Taiwan. Teaware The typical Taiwanese family owns at least one set of teaware at home. Many people collect teapots as a hobby. Most families in Taiwan have Yixing clay teapots at home. Traditionally, "raising the teapot" at home is a way of life in Taiwan. Teapots are used to brew teas intensively so that the surface of the teapot becomes "bright". This process is called "raising the teapot", which enhances the beauty of the clay teapot. Tea stores are virtually everywhere in Taiwan. In big cities like Taipei one can easily find tea for sale on nearly every city block as well as historic tea houses such as the Wistaria Tea House. Teaware items # brewing vessle,teapot, or a cover bowl gaiwan # tea pitcher, decanting vessel, used to ensure the consistency of the flavor of the tea # hot water kettle, e.g. an electric kettle etc. # brewing tray, or a deep, flat bottom porcelain plate to hold spills # tea towel, or tea cloth usually dark color # tea scoop, or a wooden tea spoon to measure the amount of tea leaves required # teacups, matching size # timer # tea holder, tealeaf holder for weighing and dispensing # tea basin, bowl as the reciptical for used tealeaves and refuse water # optional: scale # optional: scent cup used to appreciate the tea's aroma Tea ceremonies *Wu-Wo Tea Ceremony *Tea Appreciation Day *Perennial Tea Ceremony *Chinese tea culture *Gongfu tea ceremony Oolong teas According to Lien Hen (連橫; Taiwanese historian, in the late 18th century, Ke Chao (柯朝) brought some tea trees from Fuchien, China into Taiwan and planted them in Jie Yu Keng (櫛魚坑), currently known as Ruifang District, New Taipei City. However, transaction records indicated that tea business in Muzha (木柵, Taipei 台北市) area started as early as the late 18th century. Thus we can believe that tea has been merchandised in Taiwan for more than 2 centuries. In 1855, Lin Feng Chi (林鳳池) brought the Cing Shin Oolong (青心烏龍) plants from Wuyi Mountain (Fujien Province, China) (武夷山，福建，中國) into Taiwan and planted in Dongding Village (Lugu, Nantou County, Taiwan) (凍頂鄉，南投，台灣). This is said to be the origin of Dongding Oolong Dong Ding tea from Taiwan. In 1867, English tea trader Jon Dodd started a tea company in Wanhua, Taipei (萬華，台北市), and started to sell Taiwanese oolong tea to the world under the name "Formosa Oolong", and the Pouchong oolong was considered to be more flowery than Baihao Oolong, Pouchong was exported under the name "Formosa Pouching". In fact, Dongding Oolong (凍頂烏龍茶), White Tip Oolong (白毫烏龍茶) and Pouchong Oolong (包種烏龍茶), Alpine or High Mountain Oolong, are all categorized as Oolong tea, which contributes a large part of Taiwan tea industry. As Taiwan is lucky to have great environment for tea growing, and with the developing of tea technology, Taiwan has produced many top quality teas, all can be called as "Formosa Tea". The best known ones including "Formosa Dongding oolong", "Formosa Alishan Oolong", "Formosa Wenshan Pouchong", "Formosa Oriental Beauty", "Formosa Shanlinxi Oolong", "Formosa Jade Oolong" and more. Tea culture and studies education *Tatung Institute Tea Culture and Department of Business Management *Lu-Yu Tea Culture Institute *Tenfu Tea College See also *Chinese tea culture *Hong Kong tea culture *Pearl milk tea *British tea culture *Taiwan teas References Cultural Taiwan External links *The Art of Tea *Taiwan creates a Napa Valley of teas mercurynews.com Category:Tea ceremonies Category:Tea culture